Morphological and Physiological Responses of Tomato Varieties Under Saline Environment

Abstract

Abstract: The Crops in dry and semi-arid locations are frequently subjected to negative environmental variables such as high soil salinity. An experiment was carried out to investigate the response of tomato to salinity, a variety that has received little attention. The impacts on gas exchange parameters, relative water content (Rwc), leaf area, and total chlorophyll and phenol levels were all studied. Salt stress was administered with four treatments were tested: 0 mM NaCl (Control) ,75 mM; 145 mM and 200 mM. . The results showed that the salt stress and salinity treatments had a considerable influence on the examined parameters, with the effects being much more pronounced in all treatments especialy in 200 mM salt treatment. Different modes of adaptation to saline stress were demonstrated by Tomato. The adaptations under this stress are mostly morphological (by decreasing leaf area), physiological (reduction in net CO2 assimilation rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration, and Rwc), and biochemical (decrease of chlorophyll content). As a result, phenol buildup was increased in Tomato leaves as a common defensive strategy. These characteristics enabled tomato to be classified as a salinity-tolerant cultivar. Keywords: Tomato, salinity, Gas Echange, phenol, retention water content, chlorophyll, leaf number, branche number